Monkey King
by Lectori Salutem
Summary: Summoning is a very delicate technique. Many things can go wrong when one tries to punch a hole in the fabric of time and space and call another being through. For example, when Sarutobi Hiruzen gets disturbed while trying to summon the monkey king Enma, he might accidentally call for a very different Monkey who aims to be king.


In the One Piece timeline this story would be set some (possibly hypothetical) moment after Dressrosa when the entire crew is gathered on the Sunny and sailing to the next island. There are some spoilers for the story up till the end of Dressrosa. For Naruto it is during the Konoha invasion and it doesn't spoil anything beyond that.

Please enjoy!

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**Monkey King**

"Summoning: Monkey King-" Sarutobi Hiruzen jumped back, to avoid getting caught in the Shodaime's wood release. It interrupted his technique slightly, but going by the telltale cloud of smoke it still seemed to have worked. Perhaps not very surprising; Enma always was in favor of getting rid of Orochimaru.

The smoke cleared...

And even with his decades of battle experience, Hiruzen could help but be stunned by shock momentarily. Because the one standing there casually, wearing a bright red cardigan, a straw hat and a horrific scar on his chest, was most certainly not his personal summon. The boy turned his way and said:

"Who the hell are you?"

_Somewhere so far away that it wouldn't make sense to talk about differences in time and space, Zoro opened his eye. He had been napping peacefully on the deck when something had disturbed his senses. Or rather, it was the sudden lack of something that disturbed him. He quickly checked the figurehead, hoping to spot the familiar straw hat… to no avail. He checked one last time with his observational haki._

"_Oi, cook!" Zoro called as he stood up and moved toward the kitchen. When he heard Sanji's rude 'Hah?' that signified he had been heard, he continued, "Tell me I'm wrong and that Luffy is still on the ship somewhere."_

"_Your entire existence is wrong." Sanji shot back as he came out of the kitchen. Zoro twitched, but didn't reply to the insult like usual. This was enough to make the cook worried, so he closed his eyes to concentrate. When he opened them again to meet the one eye the swordsman had left, they both expressed their sincere feelings in a rare harmony._

"_Shit."_

Before Hiruzen had even had the chance to answer, the boy's eyes started to… sparkle? "That suit! The forehead protector! Are you a ninja?"

"I am." The Sandaime replied, mostly on auto-pilot and still not really comprehending the situation. It had started with the chunin exams. Then it turned out the Kazekage was actually Orochimaru in disguise. Some sound ninjas had set up a barrier to trap him for a fight to the death with his former student. The snake had summoned dead people and in return he had tried to summon the Monkey King Enma. And then somewhere something went wrong…

"That's so cool! Hey, can you do substitution? Shadow clones? Was that _poof _because of you? Can you walk on the ceiling? Do you poop?!" The star struck boy started rattling off questions, and Hiruzen was suddenly very afraid he had summoned an innocent stranger just to die with him. A child this happy and bright had no place in a fight to the death…

At this point the resurrected Hokages suddenly started moving again. Hiruzen saw the Nidaime coming, saw a strike that was meant to kill the stranger in this fight, but there was no time for him to react. Not for him and not for the boy, who had his back turned to the enemies. He prepared to see the smile turn to shock and to hear the questions become a scream of agony.

But it didn't happen. The boy nimbly and almost casually stepped to the left to avoid Tobirama, and then jumped to avoid the branches Hashirama sent at him. "Rude! I was still talking!" He punched the Nidaime, spun around, _stretched his arm_ and finally punched the Shodaime as well. "So, old man, who were you again?"

While he still had a relaxed air about him, there was a seriousness in his eyes that couldn't be denied. Perhaps he was not as innocent as he looked. "I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage of the Village hidden in the Leaves." There was no sign of recognition, so he clarified. "I am the leader of the ninja village you are currently in. And you are?"

At the words 'ninja village' the stars returned to his eyes stronger than ever, but the boy replied nevertheless. "I'm Monkey D Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King." That raised even more questions than it answered, but there was no time to address them. The Nidaime had righted himself and attacked again, only to get sidestepped once more. "You in a fight or something?"

"You are truly unlucky, boy!" Orochimaru spoke, finally joining in on the conversation. "It seems Sarutobi-sensei messed up his summoning technique and called you here to die with him. I guess that is what old age does to you."

"Sensei? You're in a fight with your student?" Luffy asked.

"Yes." Hiruzen sighed. "However, he betrayed the village and defected. It was my love for him as a student that kept me from killing him then, but now I fear he brings death and destruction to Konoha to repay me. I am truly sorry for dragging you into this as well."

"You are too soft for your position. I would have done better." Orochimaru replied.

"Huh." Luffy dodged a water bullet and punched the Nidaime from a distance. "These guys are really starting to annoy me! They come at me with the intent to kill, but it feels like they don't even _want_ to attack! It's really weird!"

"A sensor?" Orochimaru mumbled, surprised. "Yet he does not seem to be a shinobi. Fascinating."

Hiruzen was just as surprised, but decided to explain anyway. "Those are the previous leaders of the village, but they are long dead. The beings you see are more like puppets containing their souls, with their personality sealed away so they would obey Orochimaru. They can't be killed, since they already died once."

Luffy nodded. "Mystery enemies." The ninja sweat dropped. "Anyway, I'll just keep the mystery guys busy for you."

"You would help me?" The Hokage asked, surprised a stranger would offer his help just like that. "Even though you are most likely outclassed?"

"You wanna fight that snakey one, right? And I won't lose to people who don't even want to fight! Just feed me when we've won. Oh, and get me back to my ship!" Luffy said. He crouched slightly and put one fist to the tiled roof. "Gear Second!"

Next Hiruzen knew there was only steam floating in the air where the boy had just been standing. And a crash where one of his predecessors had been standing… But there was no opportunity to further study this ally fate had gifted him. The third Hokage had his own enemy to fight.

_By now (for a certain definition of 'now') the whole crew knew Luffy was not on the ship anymore. They gathered on the deck to assess the situation._

"_Are we really _really_ sure we checked everywhere? The crow's nest? The figurehead? The men's quarters?" Nami asked, trying to keep the panic away._

"_The cook and I used observation haki, so yes, we're sure he's not on the ship." Zoro said, ignoring Sanji's complaints of speaking so gruffly to a lady. _

"_I do hope he didn't fall off the ship and drown hours ago." Robin stated ever-so-optimistically. Ussop and Chopper started crying at the idea and Franky yelled that it wouldn't be SUPER if that had happened._

"_I would have heard." Zoro said, crossing his arms. "He didn't move away gradually, it was more like a _poof_." _

_His crewmates looked at him oddly, but decided not to question the choice of words. "That suggests Luffy might have been taken, perhaps a Devil's fruit ability?" Robin suggested. "Regardless, we have a piece of his vivre card. It will tell us if the captain is alive and give a direction."_

_The rest of the crew felt really stupid for forgetting that they even had that little piece of paper._

"Summoning: Monkey King Enma!"

To Hiruzen's relief, the monkey appeared properly this time.

"So you're finally going to do it? Should have just killed him before then." His personal summon grumbled, but assumed his staff form without further complaint. Orochimaru meanwhile spit out a snake, and the snake spit out a sword. "Kusanagi. Man, even in this form that's going to hurt!"

Hiruzen took a deep breath, one he didn't want to admit to himself that he really needed, and attacked. He swung the staff at Orochimaru, who blocked with his sword. Enma materialized partially to attack from this position, but missed. His student has jumped back and countered by having Kusanagi extend. Weighed down by the heavy staff he carried, Hiruzen was unable to dodge cleanly and he felt the cut on his left arm.

"A frontal attack without using shadow clones? I would have thought you knew better than that." Orochimaru mocked. He had caught the explosion tag aimed at his face, and threw it away just before it went off. "But I suppose it just goes to show once more that even the God of Shinobi couldn't defeat old age. Unlike me…"

And to Hiruzen's utter surprise and disgust, his opponent ripped his (?) own face off. "Who… who are you?" Was the only thing he managed to say.

"Why, you don't even recognize you own student?" The woman before him laughed. "In those ten years I accomplished so much. I won't have to suffer the frailty of old age, I will always have a young and beautiful body!"

"So you completed that technique." Hiruzen sighed. "I see. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Indeed."

And he remembered the happy times with his team and the sad times of Orochimaru's betrayal. "I'm sorry."

"Excuse me?" Orochimaru asked, eyebrows rising in surprise.

"To me, the village isn't just an organization. There are many shinobi here who live and fight to protect this village. To protect what's precious to them, they don't mind facing death. Even if we are not related by blood, those that share the same will to protect… They are my most important, my most precious family!" And what a wonderful family they made, Hiruzen realized as he saw all those faces in his mind's eye. "I'm sorry you never understood that."

Orochimaru just laughed. "I understand enough to know that your death will make that whole make-believe family crumble like a house of cards! Konoha is finished!"

"It is not! I'm the man who inherited the will of the Shodaime and the Nidaime. The Sandaime Hokage! And even if my life ends here, there will be a new Hokage who will inherit my will and protect the village!" And it was becoming increasingly likely his life would end here. Summoning twice in such a short timespan had taken a toll on him. Nevertheless, he could still use _that_ technique to try to take his opponent with him. "Orochimaru! To protect my family, I shall show you a very special tech-"

And that's how far he got, because for some reason the resurrected body of the second Hokage crashed into the snake sage.

"I agree old man! Family is important!" He heard suddenly. Luffy stood beside him, looking slightly winded but surprisingly unhurt.

"Why you!" Orochimaru said after he got up, showing anger for the first time in the fight.

"Oh, did I hit you? My bad." Luffy said as he picked his nose. Then he noticed something. "Hey, she still feels like the snakey guy, but he looks like a snakey girl! Is Iva-chan around or something?"

"Yes, I suppose my previous face is more fitting for when I deliver the finishing blow." Orochimaru said as she regained his old looks. However, Luffy wasn't paying attention anymore, so some of the dramatic effect was lost.

"But man, those guys are weird. I swear I've broken most of their bones a few times already, but they keep getting up." The boy complained to the Hokage. "Chopper said that's impossible on Thriller Bark, and it's how we defeated my zombie so he must have been right!"

"I see you are starting to understand how magnificent the Impure World Reincarnation truly is." Orochimaru said. He ignored the 'Hey, she's a he again!' Luffy interjected. "I sacrificed the lives of some of my weak and worthless subordinates and in exchange gained two of the strongest shinobi this village has ever had! And even if you manage to land a hit, they revive almost instantly! Surely you have realized that there is no possibility you will get out of this fight alive."

"That twisted morality is one of the reasons you were passed over for the position of fourth Hokage." Hiruzen said, but he went unheard.

"You sacrificed your _nakama_?" Luffy asked in a tone neither had heard from the boy before. His face was shadowed by his hat and his body was tense. Hiruzen suddenly realized what it meant that the boy had fought two former Hokage while he himself was busy with Orochimaru, and by his own account was capable of breaking their bones. This boy, no this man, was dangerous if he chose to be.

"And what if I did?" Orochimaru continued to underestimate his opponent. "You won't receive any help as long as my guards keep up this barrier, and the two of you will lose. This village will fall. I will win! Those weaklings should be grateful their lives were so useful to me!"

Luffy didn't reply, didn't even move for a few tense seconds. Then he addressed the Hokage, still keeping his eyes trained on the snake sage. "Old man, are you satisfied?"

Hiruzen was injured and tired and he had accomplished nothing except drift even further from the one who used to be his favorite student. He exhaled slowly before answering. "Yes."

"Good."

From the corner of his eye the Hokage noticed his ally adjusting his straw hat and shifting his body. Then he felt… something? The incredible wave of sensation passed him by harmlessly, but to his surprise he saw Orochimaru stumble when it hit him, the reincarnated bodies just froze, and seconds later the purple barrier flickered into nothingness.

"What happened?!" Hiruzen exclaimed, but Luffy didn't pay him any attention.

The Hokage once again saw steam coming from his skin, and this time his arm was stretched out behind him and turning black for some reason. "Gomu gomu no…" Luffy began. His arm accelerated forwards and _ignited_, and he moved toward Orochimaru. "Red Hawk!" With a snap and a crash and a lot of fire, he hit the snake right in the gut.

"Hokage-sama!" One of the Anbu that had been waiting outside the barrier was suddenly at his side. "What are your orders?"

"The one with the straw hat is an ally. Apprehend the shinobi who put up that barrier, distract the former Hokage if they start moving again and get Orochimaru."

"Understood!" The Anbu replied, but Hiruzen was more focused Luffy. The strange technique the boy used had pushed his student back considerably. It was only the sloped surface of the roof serving as their arena that prevented him from moving further. He was still standing, but it certainly looked like he had sustained a lot of damage.

"I've never seen such a technique before. It's strong." Orochimaru mumbled. "Boy, what did you do?

"I punched you, stupid." Luffy answered with a face void of any emotion. A nearby Anbu snickered. Then a grin broke out on the boy's face. "It's the punch I inherited from my brother, so of course it's strong!"

"No, before that." The snake sage ignored the insult. At this point more Anbu started showing up. "Within seconds you froze my infallible technique and dispelled the barrier, and I…" He didn't finish his sentence, finally losing his composure. "What was that?"

"Oh." Luffy blinked. "Haki."

"Haki?" There was a pause, but no further explanation came forth. "You are strong boy, but I can make you stronger." Orochimaru tried to seduce him, wanting to learn more about this strange attack. "You are not a shinobi of this village and you have no obligation to fight for them. Join me! I can teach you techniques you couldn't even imagine!"

The answer was swift and decisive. "No way. I don't like you."

Orochimaru might have tried to convince him further, but he didn't get the chance. "I thank you for your assistance, when indeed you had no reason to offer it so freely." Hiruzen said as he strode closer to the two combatants. "However, let us finish this fight. Allow the village hidden in the leaves to fix its own mistakes."

Luffy turned to look the Hokage in the eyes. They studied each other, until finally Luffy shrugged. "Sure."

When the circle of Anbu tightened around Orochimaru, the straw hatted boy made no move to stay in the fight. The shinobi of the leaf prepared to fight, drawing their weapon of choice or gathering chakra that would shortly be necessary.

Hiruzen sighed. "Your loss, Orochimaru." He and his student stood facing each other in the middle of the circle. The Hokage held Enma in his staff form, and prepared for anything.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage indeed." Orochimaru's eyes flicked to Luffy for only a brief instance. "Even if purely by luck… I suppose I shall have the pleasure of seeing time degrade you even further, sensei."

As soon as Hiruzen realized that Orochimaru implied he was going to escape, he attacked. Unfortunately, he was too late.

"Summoning technique! Come forth, Manda! Eat as many as you like!"

The shinobi, recognizing that name, jumped backwards to avoid being crushed. Luffy didn't have any such foreknowledge. He looked left and right curiously, but sadly forgot to look up. Meanwhile Orochimaru payed no attention to his summon. Before the smoke had even cleared, he made use of the break in formation to escape the rooftop.

"Boar! Eagle! Pursue him." Hiruzen ordered. The two Anbu immediately complied. "A summon this size in the middle of the village is liable to cause massive damage. Our priority is to minimize casualties."

The purple snake was slightly smaller than he expected, and Hiruzen noticed it was _not_ Manda. Before he could consider this further, the snake seemed to jump. It turned its focus from the nearest Anbu to a part of its own body.

"Whoa, you're pretty heavy!" Luffy exclaimed loudly. As the snake shifted its coils the shinobi could see the boy holding up a section the large summon. He threw it to the side. "That surprised me!"

The snake didn't appreciate this and showed its displeasure by attacking. Hiruzen expected the boy to show the same speed as before and dodge. However, as the fangs came closer and closer, he did nothing but hold out his hand. Even though he should no longer be disturbed by scenes like this, the Hokage unconsciously held his breath…

… and released it again when the snake stopped just before touching that hand.

Luffy petted the snake. "Oh, my bad. You're a girl! Nami sometimes hits people too when they talk about her weight, I still don't get why…" The snake looked tense at first, but slowly relaxed. "Anyway, don't go around eating people. I've been eaten by a snake before, and it's not really fun." The snake bobbed her head in what could be interpreted as a nod of agreement.

"How?" Was all Hiruzen was able to say.

Luffy heard him and shrugged in response. "Haki."

"We should incapacitate it while it's distracted." One of the Anbu interrupted.

"What? No way!" Luffy shouted. "She's not gonna eat anyone! I told her not to, so you don't have to hurt her!"

"Nevertheless, a snake this size will to considerable damage to the village just by being there. It would be better to remove it." Hiruzen sighed.

"It's not like she can help how big she is," Luffy pouted. "Can't you just send her away or something?"

Hiruzen took a good look at the his stubborn expression, then sighed. "Very well. There is a technique to dispel a summon outside one's own contract, but it takes a while and it might not work if the summon resists. Make sure it cooperates."

"Thanks old man!" The pirate cheered. "I'll just ask, no problem!" Quick as a monkey he climbed on the giant summon's head, before chattering excitedly at her.

For the exhausted Hokage alone it would have been too chakra intensive, so he ordered some of the surrounding Anbu to help. With their assistance, and despite the distracting one-sided human to snake conversation in the background, it took almost ten minutes. In the end the usual smoke appeared. When it lifted, the snake was gone…

… along with Luffy.

For a moment Hiruzen was surprised. Then he decided that this disappearance made more sense than pretty much anything that had happened concerning the accidentally summoned boy, so he let it go. Maybe later he would look into this matter. First, he had a village to protect.

_The crew was staring at their captain's vivre card. That in itself was good news. The continued existence of that piece of paper meant Luffy was still alive. Considering its size and condition, he was unharmed even._

_The crew was staring at their captain's _unmoving _vivre card. That was probably bad news, if only because they couldn't plot a course without a direction. _

_Nami had put it on the floor to eliminate any movement of her hand, but the paper still wouldn't budge. However, just as she was about to pick it up, it started wiggling. Startled, she pulled back her hand. When smoke suddenly _poofed_ into existence right in front of her, she scrambled back even further. _

_Most of the crew tensed up momentarily, ready for battle, but Zoro relaxed and Sanji called out. "Yo, shitty captain. Welcome back." _

"_Oh hey, I'm back! Hi everyone!" Luffy said, stepping out of the smoke._

"_Don't you 'hi everyone' when you suddenly disappeared. We were worried you know!" Name shouted. "Where were you? What happened!"_

"_I _poofed_ to a mystery place and fought some mystery guys." Luffy grinned. "Hey more importantly, is it time for lunch yet?"_

_(Some days later)_

"_Oi, Luffy, I think you got a delivery." Zoro called out from where he had been napping on the deck before a somewhat familiar sensation disturbed him._

_The captain jumped from his position on the figurehead, and sounding confused he asked, "Delivery?"_

_Zoro wordlessly pointed at the large steaming hot bowl accompanied by a letter addressed to a Monkey D. Luffy that stood on the grassy deck._

_Eyes widened, and a cry of "Food!" was the only warning the poor bowl got._

_The rest of the crew had been alerted as well and gathered on the deck. Ussop spotted the letter as well and picked it up. He read aloud:_

"To Monkey D. Luffy,

"Once more I thank you for your assistance in the fight with my former student Orochimaru. It is fair to say you saved my life, and quite possibly my village as well. Thanks to the timely conclusion of our confrontation, the overall losses were limited. The Village Hidden in the Leaves will recover swiftly and our reputation remains untarnished. If you ever find yourself in our realm again, I will be sure to repay this debt.

"According to my research you should have returned safely to your world, in a place that you consider home. Our agreement was to do this and provide food for you. This is the limit of what I can send, but I hope it is to your taste. I have it on good authority that it is the best food in the world.

"Yours sincerely,

"The third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Sarutobi Hiruzen."

_Luffy slurped up the last noodles in the bowl and shouted, "Sanji, that was the best ramen ever! Please make more!" _

_The cook sighed and said, "If you want me to recreate something at least leave some for me to taste, shitty captain." Nevertheless, he took the empty bowl with him to the kitchen to see what he could learn from it._

"_My, it seems the mystery place with mystery enemies had a bit more to it than we were told." Robin giggled._

"_Nothing normal ever happens to Luffy…" Nami sighed. "Oh well. Just another day."_

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AN: In this story haki messes with chakra. Specifically, armament haki messes with the physical component of chakra, making it unstable. Possibly long term, so Orochimaru will still seek out Tsunade. But that is why the wrong snake was summoned, even though I couldn't find the right moment to explain it. :(

In fact, there's a lot of things I couldn't fit in... This story has been sitting on my computer for, I don't know, four years perhaps. Whenever Dressrosa arc ended in the manga I guess. It was almost twice as long too, and I just couldn't write it to a proper end. :( In the end I cut it in half wrote an entirely different end than planned. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! :) Perhaps one day I'll add an alternate end and see where that takes me... maybe. ;)

Luffy is kind of hard to write... Lots of stories play up his cluelessness, and while that is fun to read it doesn't seem entirely right to me. I tried to make him act more instinctual than anything, but tempered with his own peculiar values. For all that he is oblivious about human relations, he is a fairly good judge of character and he knows (somehow) when to step in and when to step back. Anyway, I hope I've done him justice...

Please let me know what you think!


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